In recent days, I have been preoccupied by news about a 13 year old middle-schooler, who was killed by an adult in Washington, D.C. There has been limited information released by the police department to date. The Washington Post offered this summation:
Police have said the man told them he heard noises shortly before 4 a.m., left the Quincy Street residence with his legally registered handgun and saw someone it appeared was breaking into vehicles. Two people ran, and the man told police he confronted Karon and shot him. The youth died from several bullet wounds.
What a tragedy.
I drive by the middle school he attended several times a week. My granddaughters and I have played at the nearby playground many times.
I never had the joy of knowing this child, Karon Blake.
A staff person at his school described him as “inquisitive, smart and charismatic — a student who could be found with a book tucked under one arm.”
I’ve been thinking about 13 year olds, developmentally. How they are so ‘discombobulated,’ with their brains and hormones and physiques going through all these wild changes and growth.
Ugh.
I think about my own knowledge of 13 year olds – the shenanigans I pulled at that age, the risks my brothers took, the foolish decisions my boys made, the mood swings of my young relatives, the jarring words and behavior of middle school students . . . on and on and on.
Ugh.
I think about the middle-of-the-night wakeup, the sound of someone breaking into my car. I don’t own a gun; it’s impossible for me to imagine any circumstance when I would be inclined to use one. But, come on – using a gun to solve a problem like this?
I know I would be angry if someone was messing with my stuff. I know I would be angry if someone was breaking my things. Honestly, I’m not that particular about my car, but I would be angry if I caught someone taking stuff from it or trying to steal the car itself…and I would be very confused, probably, in the middle of the night.
I simply cannot imagine doing anything more than yelling – STOP! GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!!
It is unfathomable to me that this situation would be solved with a gun.
A gun?
What a mess we are, as a society.
What a tragedy.
I offer this poem…
Karon moon high in the night sky wee hours of a Saturday morning inquisitive, smart, charismatic 13 year old Karon should have been sound asleep nestled on his pillow, wrapped in his blanket deep in dreams of Legos, Fortnite, possibility of pancakes for breakfast instead moon high in the night sky some craving for adventure some desire for friendship some sense of invincibility takes him outside messing with cars only to meet homeowner with a gun inquisitive, smart, charismatic Karon lies dead on a residential street residential: designed for people to live in this is justice in our own hands? broken cars broken people broken world belongings over belonging
Oh – there are not words Maureen, but somehow you found them. Exquisitely composed poem – heartfelt – BELONGINGS OVE BELONGING. Absolutely devastating and all too common.
Thank you, Joanne! I am struggling to find the right words. It is devastating.
It’s such an incredible experience to pause my day to read “Slice of Life” pieces and be transported into others’ experiences, and thoughts, and challenges, and goals. I’m feeling very grateful for this space, and for writing like yours, which stops me in the flow of living to pause and reflect. Creative Nonfiction has a publication called True Story. This piece feels like one of those essays. A true story–part news, part profile, part personal take on the story, part commentary on our world, part poetry! I’m very sorry this happened. It’s heartbreaking. But your tribute to Karon Blake is important.
Steph, thank you for your comments. Yes, this is my personal take on a local news story – I just can’t shake thinking about this child, and all the trauma it has unleashed for his family, his classmates, his community…it is heartbreaking.
Oh, my heart is sad. Having spent much of my teaching career with middle schoolers makes me especially aware of their impulsive natures and longing to belong. I don’t see why an adult feels a need to shoot anyone, especially a child. Your poem is heart wrenching.
Thank you, Ramona. Yes, a middle school teacher knows very well the impulsivity of this age…it is simply heartbreaking to know that his life has been taken.
Maureen, I had the same reaction you had when I saw this story a few days ago. The last lines of your touching poem speak the lament: “belongings over belonging.” When have to stop valuing things ore than people. Killing a child, treating a child like a thing, the cavalier gun mentality, it all makes no sense.
Thanks, Glenda; it makes absolutely no sense to put our belongings ahead of or above a human being. Our society is really out of whack.
There are NO words to describe this post other than SAD. I know that adolescents, 13 year olds’, even me, have always done things that were risky and not wise; however, it appears we as a society as well as adolescents have veered far off course to a place where people were second to things….your post will keep me awake tpnight..
It feels to me that people are now second to things…yes, it is very, very sad. I am sorry to keep you awake tonight, but there is solace in how many of us in this Slice of Life community are truly horrified by this story – and aching for things to be different. I wonder how we might model another way of living/provoke change in our world?